Condor folders
The Condor is a series of 4.5×6 and 6×6 folders, made from 1939 to at least 1942 by a Japanese company called sometimes Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha (日産光學工業社) and sometimes just Condor Camera Works in Roman writing. All the models are copies of the Baldax, with a folding optical finder and a body release. Semi Condor and Condor Six The Semi Condor (セミコンドル) and Condor Six (コンドルシックス) appeared together in 1939 . It seems that both share the same body, copied from the bigger model of the Baldax for #0 size shutters. The Semi is a 4.5×6 version and the Six is a 6×6 version, adding an automatic film advance with an exposure counter, externally similar to the device mounted on the Plaubel rollfilm backs and on the Roll-Op II camera. The Six is embossed Condor-Six in the front leather while the Semi is simply embossed Condor. These two models are advertised in 1939 as made by Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha . A variant of the Condor Six without the exposure counter and with film advance by red window is offered as the Condor Six ordinary model . In the advertisements, the lens name is uncertain and the shutter is a Rulex made by Neumann & Heilemann, in A or B variant (speeds not precised). All three body types are offered with a Rulex A and either an f:3.5 or an f:4.5 lens. The Rulex B is only offered with the f:4.5 lens on the Semi Condor and the Condor Six ordinary model. The price for all the variants is comprised between ¥70 and ¥98. Later in 1939 , the Semi Condor was advertised alone by the distributor Sanwa Shōkai (三和商会). The shutter speeds were now mentioned: T, B, 1–250 for the Rulex A and T, B, 5–150 for the Rulex B. No Condor Six model has been observed yet, and the Semi Condor is difficult to tell from the New Semi Condor that followed. New Semi Condor The New Semi Condor (ニューセミコンドル) appears in 1940 in 1941 advertisements. The company name is now Condor Camera Works in Roman letters . At first, the new model is offered side by side with the Semi Condor. Apart from the reference to an exposure table on the back, the difference between the two is unclear. Unlike all the previous models, the New Semi Condor is offered with all four lens and shutter combinations (3.5 A, 3.5 B, 4.5 A, 4.5 B). By June 1940 the Rulex B shutter option has been upgraded to 1/200 top speed. By January 1941 the Rulex A option has also been upgraded to 1/300 top speed and the Semi Condor is no longer an option. The price varies between ¥74 and ¥94 depending on the lens and shutter combination. A variant with T, B, 1–300 shutter is sometimes offered as the New Semi Condor III with either f:4.5 or f:3.5 lens, it is probably only an alternate name of the above model with Rulex A shutter. The New Semi Condor is still offered in 1942 by Sanwa Shōkai, together with a Semi Zeitax . Only the T, B, 1–300 shutter option is given , with an f:4.5 or f:3.5 lens, for a price of ¥93 or ¥108. A New Semi Condor has been observed at a Yahoo Japan auction. It differed from the advertised model only by the addition of an accessory shoe to the right of the viewfinder and by the shutter model: a Koho with 1–200, B, T speeds, made by Takachiho, of the variant mounted on the late Semi Olympus II. This variant of the Koho is not meant to be coupled with a body release, but it seems that a complicated linkage was added between the body release and the shutter release lever. The lens mounted on this example was a 7.5cm f:3.5 apparently called Deller Anastigmat . The case was embossed SEMI CONDOR. Another case for a Condor folder has been observed for sale, this time only embossed CONDOR. The 17 exposure and 13 exposure feature The Condor models are intermittently advertised as taking 17 exposures per film roll for the 4.5×6 version and 13 exposures for the 6×6. One advertisement from Sep 1939 is entitled "Red Window Revolution" (赤窓の革命). It says that the Semi Condor was one of the first cameras (at least in Japan) to make use of the '1' to '16' numbers printed in the rollfilm paperback for the 4.5×6 format, while at the time other similar cameras had two red windows and were using the '1' to '8' numbers intended for 6×9. The use of only one red window ensures a more regular frame spacing, thus sparing some film. The advertisement says that after taking the 16 exposures it is possible to advance one more frame by hand, without the help of the film numbers, to attain a total of 17 exposures. This method was certainly very inconvenient, and it is surely why the mention of 17 exposures was abandoned some months later . The 6×6 models are not concerned by the explanation about red windows, but in the same advertisement the exposure counter of the Condor Six is nonetheless said to be designed for 13 exposures. This is strange because the advertisement published one month earlier in the same magazine only says twelve. Notes # They are both featured in the new product column of the May 1939 issue of Asahi Camera according to . # # Three authorized dealers are cited: Sanwa Shōkai (三和商會), Mizuno Shashinki-ten (水野寫眞機店) and Yamamoto Shashinki-ten (山本寫眞機店). The address of Nissan Kōgaku is Tōkyō-shi Hongō-ku Yushima-Tenjin-chō 1-chōme 105 (東京市本郷區湯島天神町一丁目一〇五). # A translation of 普及型. # It is written デルター・アナスチグマット, most probably Deltar Anastigmat, in all the advertisements observed. # It was inserted by Sanwa Shōkai and does not necessarily reflect the full range offered by the maker. It offers only the f:4.5 lens, with the two shutter options. # It was inserted by Sanwa Shōkai and only offered the New Semi Condor. — It was inserted by the Condor Camera Works company and shows the same three authorized dealers as in note 3. It again mentions the possibility to make 17 exposures. The New Semi Condor appears as a new model, together with the Semi Condor, for which the 3.5 B combination is not offered. No price is indicated. # Advertisement inserted by Condor Camera Works. The "New" in "New Semi Condor" only appears in the katakana name, the Roman name is simply Semi Condor. # Condor Camera Works is based in Tokyo, but the rest of its address is not legible. # In this advertisement, the camera is overtly said to remind the German Baldax. The advertisement does not show any company name, ambiguously attributes it to Ueno Shōten (上野商店) # # The Condor folders are very similar to the first Zeitax model. Some hints might suggest that they were related: they appear together in this advertisement, both have been advertised elsewhere as taking 17 exposures and both have been observed with a Koho shutter. Maybe this is only coincidental. # This shutter option is only called "A shutter", with no mention of the Rulex name, but the camera pictured is equipped with a Rulex shutter. # The lens name is not easy to read in the auction's pictures, and Deller is not fully compatible with the デルター name mentioned above. # Advertisement mentioned above, originally published in the Sep 1939 issue of Asahi Camera. # It is still present in the advertisement originally published in the Aug 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, mentioned above. Printed bibliography * Items 112–6. Category: Japanese 4.5x6 viewfinder folding Category: Japanese 6x6 viewfinder folding Category: C